Union members sign agreement for workers rights at Bangkok Airport

A collective bargaining agreement (CBA) text, signed by 100 union members, will be presented to AVSEC, the company that runs airport security, as well as Airports of Thailand (AOT), the organisation that oversees security outsourcing.

“Security workers must stay resolute and management must live up to its promises if basic rights are to be restored at Bangkok Airport,” said Erin van der Maas, ITF Airports Organising Programme Lead.

“Following pressure from the unions, AVSEC signed a memorandum of understanding with local unions on 10 August 2021,” added van der Maas. “However, it took five months from when the company verbally agreed to improve conditions before we got a formal document, so we’re not there yet. We need to keep focused and get the CBA signed by AVSEC as soon as possible.”

Airport workers were allegedly forced to sign new contracts with unreasonable conditions during the period of outsourcing of Bangkok Airport security. The new contracts were said to have obliged them to work overtime if required, and to work long hours without restroom or food breaks. However, the memorandum stipulates that workers are entitled to a one-hour lunch break and do not have to work more than eight hours a day.

The CBA will be the first for the newly formed AVSEC branch of the Wingspan Workers’ Union and Airport Workers of Thailand (WWU-AWT).

Butch Lamug, the ITF’s Regional Secretary for Asia Pacific said: “It is important that everyone in the Airport Alliance remains united, as the ITF and its Airport Organising Programme stand with you now and in the future. The international labour community will continue to keep a watch on the actions of the airport authorities.”